The following communication will be delivered to all households in the the Village today. We are sending it by 1st Class Post to the outlying properties where it should be received tomorrow.
If you wish to respond online click link to access the online https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/M5HDGW2
NOTE: You will only be able to complete the survey once on the same computer.
A Letter from Goostrey Parish Council to All Residents
Goostrey Former Railway Sidings
Dear Resident,
You may have noticed that the land which contained the former railway sidings is up for sale. It is a total of 6.4 acres. Goostrey Parish Council is considering whether or not to make an offer to purchase the land.
The main benefit is that we could preserve the land as an open space (as it is now) and it would be owned by the Parish Council on behalf of the residents. Over a period of time we hope to be able to open it up for other uses by the community.
Unfortunately, because the land is being sold by a Receiver, the sale needs to take place in a very short space of time. Consequently, we do not have time to fully examine the state of the land and we do not know the extent of remediation needed to allow other uses. For this reason, the land would not initially be open for general access.
If the Parish Council is to make an offer, we would need to take out a Public Works Loan, which the Government makes available to bodies like ourselves. The loan would have a low and fixed rate of interest. To cover the repayments, we would need to raise the Precept (ie that component of the Council Tax that you pay to the Parish Council) for a 25-year period. To allow scope for negotiation, we need flexibility on the size of the increase. We are proposing that for a Band ‘D’ house the maximum would be 54p/month (the maximum levels for the range of Band ‘A’ to Band ‘H’ would be 36p to £1.07/month).
Any offer that we make could of course be outbid by another prospective purchaser.
We would like to get your view on whether or not you are in favour of the Parish Council making an offer and raising the Precept.
Please could you complete the slip (on the copy of the letter you receive) and return it to the Village Hall letterbox (or The Trading Post) or complete the online survey at Goostrey.info (see the link at beginning of this post) by 10pm on Monday 27th January. The overall response will be reported to the Parish Council meeting on 28th January where the way forward will be decided. Thank You.
Sharon Jones Clerk to Goostrey Parish Council
Goostrey Former Railway Sidings.
The land for sale is within the red line boundary. It is situated to the West of Station Road. The southern entrance is directly opposite the station car park.
